Blood of Life
by haleyb333
Summary: Raphael has a crazy idea about how to make Alec immortal. But is it just crazy enough for Magnus and Alec to accept?
1. Chapter 1

Magnus tiptoed into the living room, attempting to be as quiet as possible, but knowing his foot would hit the same squeaky floorboard it always did even before it did so. He idly wondered why he'd never used magic to fix the board as he peaked around the corner to see if Alec was still awake. Magnus had woken up when he had rolled over in the bed and his arm had not found his husband by his side. Seeing a faint light under the bedroom door, Magnus had gotten up to see what could be keeping Alec up at such a late hour.

Rounding the corner, he cleared his throat first so as to not scare Alec. At 35, Alec was a bit more jumpy than he had ever been, and he was likely asleep on the couch, as his long nights of demon hunting were quickly drawing to a close. As Alec's head turned around at the sound of Magnus entering, Magnus began speaking, his voice soft. "Hey, love. Why are you still awake?"

As Magnus sat down beside of him, Alec began smiling but simply replied, "I was just thinking," while obviously trying to keep any emotion out of his voice.

Knowing this, Magnus took his husband's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "About what exactly, Alexander?" was his only question. At that, Alec sighed, knowing that there was not going to be a way out of the conversation before them.

"A lot," was his only response, but as expected, Magnus sat and looked expectantly at Alec, waiting for further clarification. When he sensed Alec's pause, Alec's hesitation at continuing, he took hold of one of Alec's hands and silently waited.

Alec took a deep breath and leaned into Magnus, and as he did so, he finally began speaking again, but this time, his words sent Magnus himself deep into thought. "I was thinking about a little of everything, Magnus. Things like my mortality. And our children. As always."

As usual, Magnus began to think about their three children, all warlocks, and each of whom were essentially rescued by Alec. Samuel, their oldest, had turned 17 that year, and had been rescued by Alec from the Clave courts at 5 years old. Sam's mundane parents had dropped him off on the steps of an Institute, and the Clave had been arguing over what to do with him when Alec had stepped in and claimed him.

At first, it had been a terrifying transition. Magnus had been no more prepared to raise a child than he would have been for the start of World War III. For weeks, Magnus had let Alec do the parenting, kept his distance and simply tried to not mess up. Then came a night when Alec was out on a patrol and Sam began screaming as he woke up from a nightmare. Magnus tried to think of any possible way out of the situation, but he finally picked Sam up and rocked him back to sleep. Then he promptly fell asleep with his son in his arms, and from that moment on, it had been like a light switch had been flipped; he was no longer afraid to be a father.

Three years went by, and they had fallen into a peaceful routine. Then Alec had rescued the twins, Oliver and Olivia, from a house fire. Their mundane parents had died in the fire, but Alec had gone in to rescue the twins, both of whom Alec had seen screaming through their bedroom window. The only reason they had survived long enough for Alec to reach them was that, even though they were only 8 years old, they had been powerful enough to hold the fire off with magic. As expected, Alec had immediately fallen in love with them with Magnus quickly following as well.

Soon after they had officially adopted the twins, Magnus and Alec had had yet another large fight about immortality. With the all the children being immortal, not to mention Magnus, they had fought long and hard of what would become of them and their family. The fight had lasted over a month, and all three of the children had picked up on the tension in the household. Magnus's argument was that it didn't matter to any of them, what mattered was that Alec was with them now. Alec's argument, however, was that when hundreds of years had passed without them in their lives, he would no longer mean anything to any of them.

Immortality had always been a highly sensitive topic between them, and Magnus generally lived every day trying to convince Alec that there would be no one else after him. He spent a substantial amount of time thinking of little gestures he could do for Alec to show him that he would never move on, but nothing seemed to ease Alec's mind. And Magnus suspected this was exactly what Alec was thinking about now.

"What is it, Alexander? Why are you thinking about our immortality again?" Taking another deep breath, Alec turned into Magnus and buried his face into Magnus's chest. Wrapping his arms tightly around Alec, Magnus waited patiently for Alec to continue.

"The twins start high school tomorrow, Magnus." He paused, and Magnus could hear how heavy his voice was. They had put all three kids in mundane schools, teaching them that they needed to be educated if they were going to spend forever in and out of the mundane world. "I don't know, I guess I just get this felling that I don't have much time left anymore."

Speechless, Magnus simply wrapped his arms even more tightly around his husband. There was always the same deep sorrow surrounding the thought of losing Alec, and it was a sorrow that Magnus avoided religiously. For years he'd simply tried to not think of it. There were certain occasions, of course, like Alec's birthday, that made the thought more prominent, but for the most part, Magnus had become an expert at suppressing the very idea.

Before Magnus had the chance to respond, there was a sharp knock on their door, causing both of them to jump. Magnus knew there would be only one possible guest at the door at that time of night, but he was still surprised when he opened the door to see Raphael Santiago standing before him.

He was about to open his mouth when Raphael strode past him declaring, "I had the craziest idea and I couldn't get it out of my head, so I figured I would come by and tell you as soon as possible."

When Magnus turned around, he smiled to see Alec with his head in his hands. "What is it now, Raphael?" he groaned, and Magnus came to place a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Magnus knew enough to know that when Raphael was talking quickly there was most likely not going to be anything good said at all. Nevertheless, he remained silent while Raphael's words began spilling out.

"So this may be a bit crazy, I realize that, but everything I do is crazy so just hear me out." He took a deep breath, as if trying to steady himself for what might be to come, but Magnus had no idea what would make him so nervous. "So I was just sort of idly thinking about you and Alec the other day, and about how you and the kids are immortal but he's, well, you know, not. Sorry," he added when Alec let out a moan of protest. "Well, I was trying to work out a way to make him immortal, and then it just sort of hit me."

When he paused a bit too long, Magnus stepped in, his words coming out a bit harsher than he had intended, he hated seeing false hope in Alec's eyes. "Out with it, Raphael," was all he said.

"Well, I was thinking about Simon. And then I thought, what if Alec was Turned and then he drank Jace's blood? He would be a vampire, sure, but living on animal blood is more than possible, and Jace could make him a Daylighter. He could stay with you and the kids. You know, forever."


	2. Chapter 2

Magnus immediately jumped up from the couch and yanked Raphael out of the living room. Once they seemed to be out of Alec's earshot, Magnus hissed, "What on Earth are you talking about, Santiago? Why would you suggest such a thing?"

Raphael stared back at him with a look that said he felt disrespected. "Excuse me?" His voice was a bit higher than it normally was, but he was a bit more confused than he normally was as well. "I thought that you would be happy to hear of a solution to your dilemma. I certainly did not think that you would react as though I had suggested he become a demon."

Magnus sighed, knowing that what he had said had not come across the way he meant it to. "No, Raphael, you know that's not what I meant. I don't see you as a monster or a demon any more than I see my children that way, which, for the record, I don't see them that way at all."

Staying silent, Raphael simply crossed his arms and stared coldly at Magnus. "What I meant, Raphael," Magnus continued. "Was that this is something that is going to start yet another terrible argument between Alexander and I, and it is not your place to do so. You should have come to me first, instead of telling the both of us. Alec and I agreed a long time ago that we were finally okay with the fact that he is mortal."

"So what you're saying," Raphael began slowly, as if he was picking his words very carefully. "Is that you don't want this for Alec?"

Before Magnus could respond, there was another voice at the door. "Choose your next words very carefully, Magnus," Alec said in a cold tone, separating each word as if to emphasize his point.

Magnus whirled around, opening his mouth as if he was going to speak, but immediately shutting it again as if thinking better of whatever he had been planning on saying. He inexplicably started shaking his head, not knowing what to say or do, not know how to avoid an argument over immortality.

Again, before Magnus could say another word, there was another voice behind Alec. "Dads?" Alec turned as Oliver began talking. "Is something wrong?"

Immediately, Alec stepped in before anything else could go wrong. "Nothing, son. Go back to bed, everything is going to be absolutely fine, I promise."

Oliver looked back and forth between Magnus and Alec, as if trying to assess the situation for himself. Magnus tried to conjure up a smile, he tried to reassure his son, but he couldn't seem to reassure himself. Oliver seemed to think better of getting involved with whatever was going on and simply nodded before turning around and going back to his room.

"Why'd you lie to him, Alexander?" Magnus knew it was a dumb thing to say as soon as it had left his mouth, but he couldn't take it back no matter how much he wished he could, so he just decided to run with it. "You know as well as I do that this is going to turn into a fight, and that's why I didn't want this conversation to ever happen. I hate fighting with you. I hate it more than anything in the world. But we keep coming back to the same fight, every time."

"You know I hate fighting with you just as much as you hate it, Magnus, but it seems as if this is more about the fact that you don't want me to be immortal than the fact that you don't want to fight with me."

Behind them, Raphael shifted uncomfortably. "I think I'm just going to go now, goodnight then." Magnus and Alec barely noticed as he left.

"You know what, Magnus? I can't take this right now. Sleep on the couch tonight." Magnus watched with a broken heart as Alec turned around without another word and slammed their bedroom door shut.

He thought things couldn't get any worse, that was, until Sam came out of his room this time. "Dad? What's going on? Are you two having a fight?"

Magnus sighed as he sat down on the couch again, placing his head in his hands. He rubbed his temples before answering in a quiet voice, "Yes, son, we are."

As Sam sat down beside him, he knew there was no way out of an explanation, and he knew he would regret it in the morning.

* * *

"Dad?" Alec internally groaned as he heard Samuel behind him. He could tell that they were going to have a serious conversation, something he didn't have the energy for at the moment. "Can we talk about something?" Sam finished and waited for Alec to nod before sitting down beside his father.

"I know I've never been very good at these kind of serious, emotional conversations. And I know that you've never really felt terribly comfortable talking about things so openly, but I want to have a real conversation about your mortality for once."

Alec was not a bit surprised at what his son wished to talk about, but that did not mean he was any more ready to have the conversation at hand. He had been putting this conversation off for a reason, and he was fairly sure he still wasn't ready to have said conversation.

"Look, Sam," he began, not really knowing how to tread carefully over the situation. "Your father and I have had argument after argument over my mortality. He's very set in his wishing that I remain mortal. So, that-"

Sam cut him off without a second thought. "Wait, Dad. What if he changed his mind? What if he wasn't set in his wishes?" At that, Alec was speechless. He had been expecting this conversation, but he had not been expecting the conversation to take such a turn as this.

Having no idea how to respond, Alec simply stared at his son. Sensing that his father was not going to respond any time soon, Sam launched back into speaking, and it sounded very much like a practiced speech.

"Listen, Dad, and I mean listen. Don't speak until I'm done. Got it?" He waited for Alec to nod before continuing. "Dad told me that he actually wouldn't care if you became immortal, as long as it was something you wanted for yourself. And I just wanted to talk to you about this before you either make your decision or continue to fight with Dad over it."

Surprising Alec yet again, Sam took hold of his father's hand as he continued his speech. "I love you, Dad. That's what all of this boils down to. You've been my hero for twelve years now, ever since you and Dad adopted me. You've shown me more love and acceptance than I could ever have imagined, and I've spend most of my life trying to be like you. You've taught me how to be a man, you've taught me how to love and stand up for myself, and if I were to list all the things you've taught me, we would be here all night. My point is that every time I try to think about what my life would be like without you, it hurts me. That's that. It hurts me, Dad; it hurts me so badly that it feels like I can't breathe."

Alec couldn't stand it any longer; he knew tears would be falling down his face soon, so he took his son in his arms and hugged him as tightly as he could.

"I guess what I'm saying is that I want you to stay. I want you to take what Uncle Raphael is suggesting. I don't want to lose you, Dad. Ever."

Alec couldn't say anything at all, he simply buried his face in his son's hair. He knew what he had to do, but at the moment, he was so full of love and emotion that he couldn't move away from his son.


	3. Chapter 3

"No. This is completely out of the question, Alexander." Magnus's voice was harder and colder than Alec had ever heard it. He understood why, but that didn't mean he liked it. He had finally swallowed his pride and simply told Magnus that they needed to talk, no matter how badly they wanted to avoid the situation.

When Alec told him that he wanted to become a vampire, Magnus immediately shot that down. Alec sighed and took a seat on the couch. He had decided to corner Magnus while the kids were at school, just in case they began to fight again. Which it seemed like they were certain to do.

"I don't understand, Magnus. Please explain to me what this is really about because I am confused. You're making me feel as though you don't want me here." He knew his voice was nowhere near calm and collected, but he didn't care anymore.

Magnus sat down beside him and took his hand. His touch was so gentle, so full of love that Alec yearned to lean into him and wrap up beside him. He kept himself from doing so and turned to face Magnus, trying, and failing he knew, to keep the emotions he was feeling off of his face.

"Alexander, it's more complicated than wanting you here or not. You should know by now that I am definitely selfish enough to want you by my side forever." He paused, and Alec could tell he was trying to work through how to continue.

When Magnus didn't continue, Alec spoke again, this time his voice was soft and more understanding than he had thought he would be. "Magnus, please just talk to me about this. I want to understand what's going on here."

Finally, Magnus raised his eyes to Alec's for the first time since their conversation began, and Alec was startled by the pain he saw mirrored in his husband's eyes. For years, they had both held this inside, and Alec was anxious to finally get the chance to talk about it. Look at Magnus, he could see that Magnus did not feel the same way. It was clear that Magnus was terrified to have this conversation.

Attempting to relieve some of the tension, Alec leaned in to kiss Magnus, catching him greatly by surprise. Despite his surprise, Magnus responded as he always had, leaning in and kissing with a passion he had never thought possible until he had met Alec.

Finally, Magnus was the one to pull away, and when he did so, he realized that he had tears in his eyes. He wanted to explain to Alec just how much he loved him, but he knew there would never be words sufficient enough for exactly how he felt. Sighing, he began speaking, knowing that Alec would most likely never understand what he was about to say.

"You're too gentle, Alexander. Immortality can often be a living hell. Becoming immortal would mean that you would lose everyone you love with no hope of ever seeing them again. Your parents, Clary, Simon, Isabelle, Jace. Everyone, Alec. When you lose so many people you care about, it starts to change you, to harden you." Magnus was slightly surprised when Alec raised a hand, indicating that he wanted to say something in response.

"Wait just one second, Magnus." Magnus could tell that he was trying to keep his voice from being cold. "You said I would lose everyone I love if I became immortal. But that simply isn't true. I might lose Mom and Dad, Jace and Clary, Izzy and Simon, but through it all I would still have you. Not to mention the kids. I've thought a lot about having to go through losing everyone. But every time I think about it, I think about you being by my side. Through all the heartbreak, I would still be able to hold on to you. And that would keep me afloat."

Magnus should have been speechless after what Alec had just said, but the last thing Alec said had struck a chord with him. "'Afloat?'" he repeated. "Afloat isn't good enough, Alexander." He paused, trying to think of how to proceed, but Alec took it from there.

"Magnus, what is this really about? You haven't really clarified that yet, and I'm still slightly confused." His voice was so soft that it made Magnus want to curl up into his husband's arms.

Instead, he sighed and finally answered the question, knowing he couldn't avoid it for much longer anyways. "You're perfect the way you are, Alexander. I don't want immortality to change you." Magnus finally looked into Alec's eyes, and had to catch his breath after seeing the great amount of love mirrored back.

"It's like I said, Magnus, I'll have you and the kids. If the four greatest loves of my life don't keep me gentle and kind, then nothing ever will."

* * *

"Calm down and just drink this." Alec could clearly hear Raphael's voice, but he wasn't paying much attention to it. All he could think of was how hungry he was, he had no idea what else was going on in the world. All he could feel was hunger. He quickly took the package he was being offered and ripped into it.

As soon as he had downed the blood, his mind seemed to clear, and he began to think about other things again. He was finally able to remember exactly what had happened in the past 24 hours. Magnus had very reluctantly agreed that if Alec wanted to Turn that he was not going to stop him, and as soon as this had happened Raphael had been summoned and the rest was a blur. He remembered saying a momentary goodbye to the kids, he remembered talking to Izzy and Jace and having them tell him that they wanted whatever he wanted. Now here he was, and he was definitely a vampire.

When he thought of the kids, he immediately turned to Raphael. "Where is my family?" He demanded.

Raphael quickly motioned around Alec. "Magnus is here, but your children are not. We weren't sure they should see you rise. Nor were we sure exactly how stable you would be at first."

Alec whirled around, or rather, he attempted to. He underestimated how fast he was now and nearly fell. He would have fallen, if it hadn't been for Magnus who had come up behind him and caught him as he began to fall.

He was surprised to hear Magnus laugh. "Woah there, Alexander. You'll have to find yourself again, love." Alec was surprised to hear the large amount of excitement that was in Magnus's voice. It was then that it finally hit Alec that Magnus had always truly wanted Alec to become immortal, to stay with him forever, but he had never wanted to hurt Alec. He had never wanted to be selfish and ask Alec to do so.

When Alec began to move toward Magnus, he must have done so a bit too quickly because Raphael jumped in front of him and pushed him backward. He smiled, however, and said, "Calm down, calm down. I just wanted to kiss my husband."

Smiling himself, Raphael back up saying, "Sorry, sorry, just a precaution."

While in the middle of kissing Magnus, Alec heard another voice behind him and he groaned internally. "Sorry to bother the two of you, but we have a bit of schedule to keep here." Alec reluctantly broke away and then turned to see Jace standing before them with a characteristic smirk on his face.

That was when Alec finally remembered the rest of their plan. He was supposed to drink from Jace, making him a Daylighter. He thought for a moment, testing out how hungry he was, how stable he would be if he drank from Jace. When he decided he would be fine, he said, "Let's go ahead and get this over with."

Jace reached out, baring his wrist, then he dropped it just as quickly. "Wait, do you need it from the tap, or can you drink it on the rocks?"

Instead of becoming put off with Jace, Alec responded just as he always did, with patience and a bit of amusement. "Stop stalling, Jace, you know we don't have anything to draw your blood so shut up and take it like a champ."

Magnus snorted, and Alec stepped forward and took hold of Jace's wrist, trying to be gentle. Drinking from Jace was a blur as well, but quickly afterward, they allowed him to see the kids again, and Alec was entirely certain he had never been so happy.

He requested that they stay out until sunrise. While watching the sun come up over New York, Alec realized that this was the first day of the rest of their lives. He was jerked out of his thoughts when he heard Magnus ask, "Everything okay, Alexander?"

Alec turned in Magnus's arms to give him a deep, gentle kiss. When he pulled away, all he could say due to the emotion he was currently filled with. "Everything is perfect, Magnus. Absolutely perfect."


End file.
